In inspecting sections of hospitals, laboratories, etc., a sliced specimen is stuck onto a glass slide and stained in a predetermined color, and then a cover film piece or a cover glass is stuck onto the stained specimen for microscopic observation. Staining the specimen and sticking the cover film piece or the cover glass are usually performed by specialized devices.
A staining device and a sticking device are separately installed, so the glass slide, on which the specimen stained by the staining device has been stuck, is manually transferred to the sticking device.
To improve staining and sticking efficiencies, perfectly automating the sequential staining and sticking works is required.
To fulfill the requirement, a staining and sticking system, whose casings are arranged to partially contact each other, is disclosed in Patent Document 1.
The disclosed staining and sticking system comprises: a staining device for staining a sliced specimen in a predetermined color by sequentially dipping a rack (basket), which contains a glass slide with the specimen, in a plurality of tubs, in which liquids for staining and cleaning the specimen are stored, with a robot arm; and a sticking device for sticking a cover glass onto the stained specimen on the glass slide, which has been taken out of the basket transferred by the robot arm of the staining device.